Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema was born in Holland in 1836 and became one of the most notable Victorian painters.  Originally named Lorens Tadema, he combined his middle name, Alma, with his last name when he moved to England.  Upon his move, he began painting pictures of common people in ancient settings.  He was extremely skilled at this genre of historical painting and created a name for himself through this genre.  He created over four hundred works of art in his sixty-year career and designed several musical instruments as well.

Of his four hundred paintings most of them are of men and women of the ancient Roman period. He was praised for his visions of daily life in these time periods.  Characteristics of his paintings are flowers and exquisite marble structures.  It is the detailed marble in Tadema’s paintings that he is best known for.  He recreated ancient marble architecture so well that he has been noted as possibly the most skilled painter of marble ever.

Over his sixty years in England, Tadema met many powerful figures. He was a friend of the Prince of Wales and Winston Churchill.  However, as the Victorian Age drew to a close so did the career of Tadema.  The value of his work plummeted until his death in 1912.  Paintings that once sold for over 10,000 pounds were now worth less than twenty pounds.  The critics who once hailed him as one of the greatest artists of his time shunned him and considered his work inferior.  His legacy became tarnished and he was eventually referred to as one of the worst painters of the nineteenth century.  It wasn’t until 1973 that a biography of Tadema by Russell Ash was published, restoring Tadema’s name to its previous grander.

Tadema’s work has also influenced our more modern times.  His work has been a strong inspiration in the film industry.  His visions of the ancient world have been utilized in films such as D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance (1916), Ben Hur (1926), and Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956) and Cleopatra (1934).  Prints of Tadema’s paintings have been consulted by set designers for all of these movies, confirming Tadema’s lasting impression.